Health Bloggers Vote Now

Hey people
Just got invited to join the People's Health Blogger Award contest for best health blog with Wellsphere.

I invite you to browse this blog, and if you like what you see, Vote for me! on the sidebar.
here is what I've been blogging about over there (and they link to my wisdomforwomen blog as well).

Healing Ourselves (recent Wellsphere blogpost)

The one single most important thing I have learned about menopause, and it has been a wonderful learning opportunity, is about self-care.

There is no fast easy way through menopause. For some of us, it's an emotional roller coaster (I raise my hand on that one). For others, it's hot flash season and lack of sleep that has them tossing and turning.

Others swear they never felt a thing, hardly noticed anything had changed (just too busy I guess, or in prime shape).

Menopause is not an illness. But it does require you to pay attention to your health. In fact, most of the symptoms arise from our body-mind connection - too tired? not getting enough sleep? never stopping to take care of yourself? eating on the run? burning the candle at both ends? adrenaline junkie? your body will let you know what you need to do. Mostly, it involves slowing down, taking stock, being real with yourself.

What do you really need right now? A nap may be enough, or a trip to the osteopath or ayurvedic consultant. Or maybe some help with taking care of your elderly parents.

Most women I know are working moms, or just working. We easily get over busy and over burdened with things we do for others. The last person on our list is ourself.

I invite you to browse my blog/website www.msmenopause.blogspot.com for articles on and tips on how to take better care of yourself.

For health related information on symptoms, the best site ever is www.womentowomen.com. I've used them as a resource for over two years now and have found they are way ahead of everyone else, mixing holistic and western approaches with success.

So ladies, it begins with you, with me. It does get better. It does require serious slowing down. Listen to your body, it is your best teacher.

Jennifer
aka musemother

Remember Peace

You have fallen in love with sound,
why not silence?

You have fallen in love with war.
Why not peace?

You have fallen in love with doubt,
why not clarity?

You have fallen in love with hate.
Why not love?

You have fallen in love with death.
Why not life?

You have fallen in love with knowing when the time is up.
Why not fall in love with knowing where time stands still?

Prem Rawat

Check out this website for a way to cultivate Peace in a world of turmoil
www.wordsofpeace.ca
www.wopg.org

Live where your fear is

Reading the Art of Extreme Self-Care by Cheryl Richardson, http://www.cherylrichardson.com/ I came across this line: Forget Safety. Live where you fear to live."

I've been sitting with my fear for a while now, letting it keep me playing small, keep me inside, in the closed circle of comfort and routine, or what is known and familiar. Yet aching to stretch, own my power, get out and play with the larger world.

For myself, it begins with sitting with the feeling in my body, letting tears come, letting feelings rise up, then breathing with it. Being a companion to my sadness or fear or anxiety instead of rejecting it and pushing it back under. This doesn't feel comfortable but it can be done safely, if I am patient with myself. It's like the poem by Rumi, Guesthouse, all these emotions are gifts or guests that come and stay with us, to teach us how to be in the world.

The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.

Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

-- Jelaluddin Rumi, translation by Coleman Barks
http://www.gratefulness.org/poetry/guest_house.htm

So live with your fear as a gift, that can lead to greater opening, to more acceptance.
Cradle and mother with tenderness the tender young self imprisoned in the cave of your heart.
Give her a name and breathe her to life.....

10 Best Things about Menopause

"The joy of menopause is the world's best-kept secret. Like venturing through the gateway to enter an ancient temple, in order to claim that joy a woman must be willing to pass beyond the monsters who guard its gate. As you stand at the brink of it, it can appear that only darkness, danger and decay lie beyond...but as thousands of woman from all cultures throughout history have whispered to each other, it is the most exciting passage a woman ever makes." Leslie Kenton, Passage to Power

The Ten Best Things about Menopause are:

1. Freedom to have sex without worry of getting pregnant, No more birth control.
2. Rediscovering my own interests, now that my children have grown older.
3. Rediscovering my life as a couple, more time for just the two of us (see #1).
4. Time alone: indulging in my need for time alone without guilt.
5. Finding my Voice: having a say, speaking my truth, speaking up.
6. Creativity Sparked: letting go of the old, making room for the new creative spirit.
7. Knowing my own body, getting comfortable with its shapes, quirks, needs
8. Growing my intuition, claiming my women's wisdom.
9. Healing time: allowing myself to rest, nap or do nothing; pampering myself without feeling guilty. Sometimes it's all about me
10. Inner Journey: looking deeply, listening, writing, reflecting on the inner life becomes a need.

What are your 10 best things?

jenn

The way of the conscious feminine

(excerpt from A Woman's Way, the tao of turning fifty by Jennifer Boire)

"It is difficult in life to find the Feminine Realm. The drawing of the water, the gathering of the grains no longer are performed under an open sky. ...The sense of her task as consecrated and necessary to the cosmos is gone. And I fear for women yet to come. For under the pressures of modern life, time has become compressed. The feminine sense of time has all but disappeared.

Yet woman cannot exist with only a linear awareness of time, for her sense of sacred Kairos time is the precious essence of life. There must be time enough for her to experience the sacredness within each moment and within herself...."
I sit listening to the wind (Judith Duerk, author of Circle of Stones)

According to Duerk, we have modeled ourselves on the masculine way, but the heroic task and journey of the masculine cannot provide what a woman needs to complete the journey of the conscious and developed feminine...we need a Feminine way.

"When a woman uses her energy only to reinforce what is outside of herself, she becomes cut off from her depths. Her own feelings and life values become inaccessible to her. She molds herself to external standards and loses touch with her individuality. She is cut off from all that is uniquely her own that could nourish her and those around her, cut off from the creative new answers so badly needed in the world today.… And her depths become enraged!

The whole wellspring of womanly creativity within her is furious for not being tapped."
from I Sit Listening to the Wind

Have you experienced this battle inside? A part of you that judges yourself harshly, strives to compete, be prepared, be on time, get things done, and runs steamroller over your own feelings or tiredness, your need for quiet time? Makes you feel guilty for needing down-time, playtime or rest? A force that keeps you primed to perform even at the expense of your own health.

Reading Duerk’s book, I felt a tear trickle down my cheek; yes, my body was saying, you have been tricked into this harsh attitude of performance and perfectionism, and you whip yourself harder because you have no faith in your own feelings or emotions, the heart side.

Focused on doing instead of being, the body resists, and by way of a message, my neck acts up. Freezes, cramps and gets so sore, that I have to quit working and rest....Ah, rest. I allow myself 30 minutes to lie on the lounge chair outside, in the last few sunny days of summer. I put down the book I am reviewing, and let myself nap. Get back in touch with my fatigue, my body's wisdom, and dream my own thoughts.....a woman dreaming the conscious feminine way.

I invite you to find a short space for yourself to rest in today, even if for a brief 5-10 minutes of closing your eyes at your desk, resting your eyes in the palms of your hands. Or a short walk at lunchtime out in the sun. Don't try and do it all without rest. Your children, your co-workers and friends, your parents and students will all benefit from a rested, calm, replenished and present, you.

nameste,
musemother

Knowing the Power of the Feminine cycle

By power, I mean, the kind that comes from taking charge of your life and asserting yourself.

Women have ignored, denied, and bullied their way through the menstrual time for hundreds, if not thousands of years, due to the denigration and fear of female processes. I think it is more than time that we reclaim this power, this unique connection to our inner healing and physical healing.

Getting in touch with the power of the menstrual cycle mainly comes from what you don't do, according to Alexandra Pope, author of The Wild Genie. Now that you are in the menopausal journey, your periods may be very erratic, longer or shorter, come early or late. There is a change in the rhythm of your body. It's harder to predict when it's coming. It's time to listen in carefully.

In our home and work lives, we are accustomed to struggling, setting goals, being heroines or supermoms, but in this case, we must face into what we experience and embody it, not try and rise above it.

"If you are willing to court the rhythmical life of your body you are given access to something Other that happens naturally. And the very act of courting the inner life of your body itself builds an inner sweetness, surety and dignity - a spirit of sovereign authority that is priceless." From The Woman's Quest, Alexandra Pope.

Sounds good, you say, how do I do that? It's mostly about slowing down, practicing surrender, and paying attention to your cycle. A good way to start is by keeping track of your cycle in a journal or even on your calendar.

It feels empowering to know where you are in your cycle, and if you look up at the moon, you will discover how close you are to a pattern of fullness, waning and waxing in the universe. You will begin to recognize the shifts of mood and feeling, see the patterns in your dream life, and also, by charting your cycle says Pope, you build self-acceptance and an intimacy with yourself over time.

"A deep process of awareness, the first task is to get to know your cycle," says Pope. This is also useful for contraception purposes - you need to know when you ovulate and when you menstruate; believe it or not, the first calendars were invented by women for this very purpose. Especially if you are not ovulating every 28 days anymore, (after age 40 your cycle starts to change).

How to deal with the aches and pains that do arise? For me, the best place on the first day of my period was in bed with a hot water bottle getting some extra sleep. And feeling my way through the pain meant I exited on the other side, feeling less achy, less fearful and tense.

Our need for rest at this time is higher, and it is not a sign of weakness to take care of yourself, it is a sign of wisdom.

"Allow yourself a dose of the thirteen allies - silence, solitude, stillness, surrender, simplicity, slowness, softness, self-interest, serenity, sanctuary, sacred, support and sleep however small, as you come into and during menstruation."

If you want to learn more, check out http://www.wildgenie.com/ for more information on this workbook.

take good care,
musemother

Menopause Quotes

“Orangutans do not go into menopause. Chimpanzees do not need extract of mare pee. …Only in human females does the fertility program shut down years before death.”
(Woman, An Intimate Geography, Natalie Angiers)

“In peri-menopause our brains are being rewired to live with more inner wisdom, to adapt to a more direct current (intuition); and we may experience insomnia, forgetfulness and depression. It takes a great deal of courage and faith to go through this change, and some women go through painful breakdowns before they are ready to relinquish the struggle for control.” The Wisdom of Menopause, Dr. Christiane Northrup

“All the emotional and psychological change of the peri-menopausal years are to the entire life cycle as the week before one’s period is to the monthly cycle. All the issues that have been occurring pre-menstrually and which perhaps had been avoided till now- should I quit my job? Should I stay in this relationship – now come up and hit us between the eyes rather relentlessly, demanding that they be dealt with at this time.” (Northrup, Wisdom of Menopause).

"Do not become alarmed when you experience yourself in totally new ways," sighs Grandmother Growth tenderly. "You are changing, getting ready to be initiated into the third stage of your life. Are you ready for the ride of your life?"Susun Weed, Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way


“In this culture we are told to set goals. We are supposed to know where we are going and then take specific steps to get there. But this is not always possible, or even wise. It is the male model of linear, rational thinking. But the life process of women…is more chaotic and disorderly, more circular and intuitive. Sometimes we can’t see the next horizon until we step out of the old life. We don’t yet know where we are going. We may not know the place until we arrive.” A Woman’s Journey to God, Joan Borysenko